NBN helped Coalition lose 2010 election

A landmark report handed down yesterday into the Coalition’s loss in the 2010 Federal Election has highlighted a failure to adequately respond to Labor’s flagship National Broadband Network plan as a key reason for losing valuable votes, especially in the sensitive Tasmanian electorate, which is receiving the network before the rest of the nation.

Yesterday, the Federal Executive of the Liberal Party held a full day meeting in Sydney to receive a formal presentation from former Howard minister Peter Reith (PDF), who the party had asked to produce a report on last year’s election loss, which resulted in a hung parliament and Labor being forced to partner with the Greens and independents to form government.

The majority of the report does not mention the NBN, but one section quotes extensively from a similar report produced last year by Sydney academic Julian Leeser into the Tasmanian leg of the election, which has been reported in brief.

“The failure to properly explain the Liberal Party’s broadband policy and the Labor Party’s effective scare campaign was a major cause of the party’s failure to win seats in Tasmania,” the report states. “This was the nearly universal review of people making submissions to the review and is borne out by research undertaken by the Liberal Party.”

“In the view of many, the party’s policy amounted to a threat to come into people’s homes and rip the Internet out of the wall.”

The report added that the NBN policy had a particularly strong effect on Tasmania for a number of reasons. For starters, the fibre network was already being rolled out in some towns, and Tasmania is also often behind the mainland in receiving new technology — so the early stage NBN rollout was seen as a boost to the state, as well as having flow-on effects in terms of jobs, for example.
In comparison, the Liberals’ policy was not as clear-cut as Labor’s.

“One of the problems of the broadband policy was that nowhere in the policy document was there any carve-out for Tasmania or any explanation of what the Liberal Party would do with existing infrastructure,” wrote Leeser in the report. “Numerous senior Liberals in Tasmania had raised the issue of broadband in Tasmania with senior Federal Liberals in Canberra, but a carve-out for Tasmania was forgotten.”

“The broadband policy was written at the last minute without a set of Tasmanian eyes cast over it. The party needs to make a clear and unambiguous statement about its intentions on broadband infrastructure in Tasmania in the future.”

Led by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the issue, Labor campaigned very hard on the NBN issue during the campaign, linking it to outcomes in health and education as well as fundamental economic reform in the telecommunications sector. Gillard in particular regularly mentioned the NBN policy in general speeches during the campaign.

In comparison, the Coalition suffered a number of missteps during the campaign.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott did not mention his party’s broadband policy or Australia’s technology sector in general during the Coalition’s wide-ranging election campaign launch on Sunday, and the launch of the Coalition broadband policy was conducted by Shadow Communications Minister Tony Smith and Finance Spokesperson Andrew Robb, with Abbott at an unrelated event that morning.

Following the election loss, Smith himself — who had seldom publicly commented in the role — was quickly replaced as Shadow Communications Minister by high-profile former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, who has been extremely active in the portfolio over the past year.

Reith’s report stated that had the Coalition performed better on the broadband issue, it might have won the seat of Bass in Tasmania. “The post-election polling confirmed that the NBN was a major reinforcement for people to vote Labor in Bass. If we had negated NBN and offered, in a timely way, a decent Tasmanian package, Bass might have been a win instead of a loss,” the report states.

“Certainly, Bass and Braddon are seats we must target for the next election.”

Despite ongoing questions on the issue, the Coalition has not yet announced the formal broadband policy it will take to the next election, expected to be held in several years’ time. However, Turnbull has consistently stated a Coalition Government would immediately halt the NBN project while a cost-benefit analysis was conducted into its future by an organisation like the Productivity Commission. As with Labor’s policy, a Coalition broadband policy would include elements of fixed and wireless infrastructure to deliver services — but likely at a smaller overall cost than the NBN.

146 COMMENTS

This quote is priceless seeing the daily anti-NBN FUD and Quigley witch-hunt, from the opposition…

“The failure to properly explain the Liberal Party’s broadband policy and the Labor Party’s effective scare campaign was a major cause of the party’s failure to win seats in Tasmania,” the report states.

The problem with the coalition clowns is they thought they could fool everyone with their patchwork plan, just think if it wasn’t for other factors they could be in power right now STILL without any clear plan for the future and no doubt leaving it all up to the private sector because according to them 1mbps upload is all anyone ever needs.

I’m curious to know (I’m not really) what the anti-NBN crusaders think of all this because according to them the substandard patchwork plan was perfectly acceptable, but come 2013 Tony Rabbitt and his zoo crew chums will be presenting something completely different proving that what they put forward in 2010 was just as pathetic as we said it was.

Now assuming the Labor party win the next election in 2013 the coalition clowns will be playing catch-up yet again and hypothetically this could go on for another 10 years until the NBN is complete and they come to the conclusion that FTTH was the right option all along.

The problem with the coalition clowns is they thought they could fool everyone with their patchwork plan, just think if it wasn’t for other factors they could be in power right now STILL without any clear plan for the future and no doubt leaving it all up to the private sector because according to them 1mbps upload is all anyone ever needs.
Every single network topology in the world is a “patchwork”. So I have no idea what you are going on here

I’m curious to know (I’m not really) what the anti-NBN crusaders think of all this because according to them the substandard patchwork plan was perfectly acceptable, but come 2013 Tony Rabbitt and his zoo crew chums will be presenting something completely different proving that what they put forward in 2010 was just as pathetic as we said it was.

Well if the entire world is doing this patchwork plan, I think its reasonable (to say the least) that its “acceptable”

Now assuming the Labor party win the next election in 2013 the coalition clowns will be playing catch-up yet again and hypothetically this could go on for another 10 years until the NBN is complete and they come to the conclusion that FTTH was the right option all along.
That is a pretty big assumption with a party that how its primary vote now at 27%

Nothing new, you have no idea at all…
No actually you don’t have any idea at all. You are claiming that patchwork is a bad thing, but as I have empirically stated every single countries network topology is a patchwork

No I was right, you really do have no idea at all. Please come back when you understand the meaning and context of the word patchwork when describing a wholesale broadband network.

No I know perfectly well what your position

You are arguing out of ignorance, and theoretical purity (we all have to have fiber!!) more then what is happening in reality

Actually it proved that FTTH is the future which is what I’ve been saying all along.
No it doesn’t prove anything

FTTN/HFC upgrades are in multitudes higher in amount then FTTH connections. So using your logic that proves FTTN/HFC is the future

See, I was right, you really do have no idea of the meaning of patchwork in this context.
Your meaning of the word patchwork changes whenever it doesn’t suite your argument

Define “non trivial country”
Countries like Guan that are just tiny islands

Clearly you still don’t understand the meaning of patchwork in this context.
Which is what?

Please tell me what you mean by patchwork, you are arguing that everyone needs FTTH and that multiple technologies in different areas, FTTN/FTTH/HFC/Wirless etc etc is what a patchwork is.

If thats what you mean by patchwork, then you argument is completely incorrect. In fact, we are moving away from monopolistic technology. Internet used to only be available on copper or copper type connections, then HFC and fiber, and then wireless came along

Furthermore wireless is growing at a faster rate then any fixed line connection, and HFC/FTTN updgrades/installations are far surpassing any FTTH deployment on a global or even national scale

No I’m arguing that you are ignorant, once again come back when you understand the meaning of patchwork in this context.

“No it doesn’t prove anything”

Actually it does. FTTH is the future not FTTN as you seem to think.

“So using your logic that proves FTTN/HFC is the future”

Nope that isn’t my logic at all. Perhaps you are having trouble comprehending this but FTTH is the future regardless, I was just pointing out the obvious for your benefit and that is FTTN is not the future as the coalition would have you believe.

“Countries like Guan that are just tiny islands”

There is no such place. In any case why even make this silly statement.

“blah blah blah Half of Japan still use ADSL2, and many people choose to use ADSL2.”

What? Position? Talk some sense please.
I just said what it is, are you blind or just retarded, to quote myself

Please tell me what you mean by patchwork, you are arguing that everyone needs FTTH and that multiple technologies in different areas, FTTN/FTTH/HFC/Wirless etc etc is what a patchwork is.
If thats what you mean by patchwork, then you argument is completely incorrect. In fact, we are moving away from monopolistic technology. Internet used to only be available on copper or copper type connections, then HFC and fiber, and then wireless came along

No I’m arguing that you are ignorant, once again come back when you understand the meaning of patchwork in this context.
Can you PLEASE explain what you mean by patchwork then. Currently its just a word that you throw around that has no meaning whatsoever

Actually it does. FTTH is the future not FTTN as you seem to think.
Empty rhetoric gets us noweher

The future is wireless, not FTTH or FTTN as you seem to think. Has the same credibility of your statement

Good for them?
Not good for your argument. In fact you don’t even have an argument because you still have not explained what you mean by patchwork. This is the 3rd time, I am asking, what your definition of patchwork, in this context is.

If you don’t answer what you mean by patchwork in the next post, then essentially you have about as much substance in your argument as Bill Gates has in foreign policy

Sure, since you seem to be unable to figure this out for yourself. A patchwork plan is what the coalition tried to fool everyone with at the last election that is a haphazard mix of FTTN, HFC, ADSL2+ wireless and tin cans.

“Not good for your argument. ”

How so? You are saying that even though the Japanese have fibre installed they still opt for ADSL2+? OK so can I get fibre installed here so I can have that choice too?

“This is the 3rd time”

Not looking good for you it seems, I told you to come back when you figure it out yet I still ended up having to explain it to you.

I’ve already explained to you what patchwork means, it is not my fault if you still are unable to comprehend it, everyone else can to except you it seems. The plan the coalition put forward is a substandard patchwork plan. It’s simple. Get over it. Move on.

And I already explained to you that what you call a patchwork plan is a standard all over the world. You still did not provide any evidence whatsoever of my taking what you say out of context, heck as I showed earlier I in fact directly and exactly retold your position

Yes it’s funny how the on one hand if the NBN was so ‘popular’ with residents in Tasmania the uptake would be at a all time high in the first pilot areas, oh hang on no it wasn’t, the Tasmania pilot uptake was abysmally poor.

I think it’s all about perception not what happened in reality post NBN rollout, and we are only talking about one seat in all of Australia Bass in this analysis.

Reith says “Bass might have been a win instead of a loss,” they key word being ‘might’, also keep in mind if a election was held this weekend Labor would be rolled, and the Coalition don’t even have a alternative broadband policy yet.

What I am actually trying to do is penetrate those layers of radical conservatism, force field, LOL, around you so that you are finally able to see the NBN as an issue rather than a political football.

“Malone told the audience that “unfortunately”, ideas regarding the NBN were being judged by who put them forth, “rather than on their technical merit”. “I’d like to see a return to that,” he said with regards to discussing ideas on their technical merit”…

What I am actually trying to do is penetrate those layers of radical conservatism, force field, LOL, around you so that you are finally able to see the NBN as an issue rather than a political football.

Hahaha!

Getting psychoanalytical here?

Let me tell you one thing

You are completely failing on numerous accounts
1. I am not conservative
2. NBN is a political football

“Malone told the audience that “unfortunately”, ideas regarding the NBN were being judged by who put them forth, “rather than on their technical merit”. “I’d like to see a return to that,” he said with regards to discussing ideas on their technical merit”…

NBN is being built for political reasons, not for technical and/or economic merit

LOL! I think you just beat “before roads there were no roads”, from your mate as dumbest comment ever…!

Anyway to deteego’s ONE point(s)…

1. Radically ultra conservative/extremist… sorry, my faux pas

2. (or how about 1a…just for you tiges). No quite simply at its core… it’s an upgrade of communications systems for Australia and Australians. The fact that you want to “over politicise it”, demonstrates your clear motives (refer 1).

Again, if you actually knew me personally (or anyone I know), they would laugh in your face for calling me conservative. Just because I happen to vote for a conservative party does not mean I am conservative

Like most of the people that vote for the greens, are not really “green” (because almost all of the green policies are basically soviet style/over regulated government dictatorial based policies)

So let me give you some advice

1. Dont be psychoanalytical on forums. You utterly fail at it (get a degree in psychology if you want to be somewhat effective, because its clear you need one)
2. The upgrade is being done for political reasons. If a company was doing an upgrade, I wouldn’t be politicizing it at all

But you brought up psychoanalysis and you my friend (and I say friend with complete insincerity) can be read like a book…!

Probably best FOR YOU, for us to leave it there, as this isn’t the place for this kind of personal detail and whilst I enjoy embarrassing you and your political crusade, it’s really not cricket to be going in to ones personal life, here (UNLESS YOU WANT TO CONTINUE)… it’s up to you!

I don’t know what you are trying to get at here. According to you anyone that votes for a political party is a political person

I have voted for Labor before, I vote for the party that I think is the best. For this time, it is the coalition. Maybe when Labor get their act together, I might consider them, but I wouldn’t currently touch them with a 30 foot yard stick

What I am trying to get at and successfully so, is that you and 3 others incessant antiNBN BS, is politically driven, due to you associations with the opposition and that all of your biased comments should be rated accordingly…

So let’s psychoanalyse your voting claims, shall we…

– You are (approx.) 21 years old
– You live in Sydney
– Since you have been old enough to vote there has only been one Federal (maybe two if you just snuck in for 2007) and one State election.

So…according to you, you either voted for Rudd in 2007, Gillard in 2010 or Whatshername in NSW in 2011?

LMFAO…

Look there’s nothing wrong with being a Lib (or Labor) servant (thanks again Tosh) just come clean and tell us, that you bag the NBN because politically, you must (even though it’s totally against everything your schooling has taught you)…!

Der… once State 2011 & once Federal 2010, my god you are getting even sillier in your desperation… and depending upon if I’m out by a few months you may have snuck in in 2007, so did you vote for Rudd, Gillard or Kennealy (was it)?

Look, you have been found lying AGAIN…just skulk off or refuse to correspond with me, just like 2 of your 3 clones have already done, when also found lying…!

Well the only real difference between CLP and Labor policy last election was the NBN. Now CLP policy seems to be not what labor is doing.

If you honestly think that then I think there isn’t any real point in arguing

The two parties (especially at this time) are the most diametrically opposed. Hell, heard of the Carbon Tax? You know that thing constantly in the news? I am pretty damn sure that the Coalition not doing a carbon tax is quite different to another party going full forward with it

Man I think these tech sites attract all the mentally deficient or ignorant

Sorry thought we were talking about LAST election and there really wasn’t that much difference between the two although the CLP where more of a climate change deniers but labor wasn’t realy willing to do much either at that stage. On economics say what you might about stimulus package we sure as hell avoided the worst of the GFC, and any government who gets a surplus by selling down asset has nothing to brag about. Ask yourself this question would you buy a business as a long term prospect if it was selling down assets to stay afloat? Both asylum seeker policies were/are a joke. As I said there difference NOW is CLP says not what labor are doing which is reflected in the carbon price.

Quite correct. I think the hung election surprised everyone, and the NBN being the clincher surprised everyone, inc. Labor. There was no skill in winning this one, nor was their good policies from either side, remember that leading up to the election, the election was being touted as a no policies election, both parties absolute failures in addressing our issues.

The thing then became surreal as the balance of power was in the hands of a few country bogans who did not understand broadband but liked the idea that Labor would pump a who lot of taxpayer money in giving them a rolls royce instead of a tractor to meet their needs.

What happens after that? Labor then goes on an NBN high, starts going on a recruiting and spending spree, believing – for lack of intelligence or policies that somehow the NBN will win them another election, and a bit of self deception that it is a good policy, if not at least the only decent policy that Gillard has proposed turns out in reality a poor one.

Also another thing to note, while the coalition may have specifically lost the last election due to broadband, the only reason Gillard one was by telling a lie (there will be no Carbon Tax). The statement was to keep all the working class voters to stick to Labor, which caused the hung parliament situations

I would rather be in the former then in the latter, especially considering the pathetic position of the labor party currently

As I said to you before tiger, the sooner you understand that they are all politicians, regardless of ideology and that one is no better than the other (because they tell lies), the sooner we can take your biased radcon comments even minimally serious.

Gillard said no carbon tax
Howard said never ever a GST

See…!

Go on tell me Howard took it to an election, so it wasn’t a lie “after all”…shakes head!

@deteego:
Gillard lied? Yes, but that was a price she had to pay. We were already going to have a carbon tax BEFOREHAND if you look at the previous election. Infact there was a mandate for it. But the coalition did everything they could to blockade it and every other Labor policy because they could. Very very rarely do they put forward an alternate viewpoint. If they did this, and had a more forward thinking viewpoint (at present they are far more focused on the status quo.)

TBH if the coalition had more forward thinking policies, looking more than towards the next election, they would be viewed far better. Get a few policies that are good for Autralia’s long term improvement, which funnily enough is more digital than they have so far admitted, and it will go different at the polls. said policies however cannot be leaning towards one side as workchoices did (most of that was fine, just a few pieces were way off base).

If labour win the next election, then I (and most Australians) will have the NBN by the end of the next political term, if the coalition win the next election, there’s a good chance that I will not ever get the NBN, so that’s something that is being taken away from me if I vote liberal next time. Why would I vote for someone that wants to take something away from me? Even if it’s just the promise of good things to come.

All other things being as they are now, if the Liberal party committed to the NBN rollout as it stands (FTTP to most places) they would get my vote. Without that commitment, I won’t take the risk that i’ll be left with something other than fibre to my house.

You are the one using weasel words with patchwork. You still have not clearly defined what you mean by patchwork, even after asking you 3 times

I have not used a single weasel word, and if I have then point it out. Everything I have said is clear, I voted for the coalition knowing that they oppose the NBN policy (and I support that position myself)

Honestly if you have issues understanding that, then maybe you need to go back to grade school and learn some comprehension

“Everything I have said is clear, I voted for the coalition knowing that they oppose the NBN policy (and I support that position myself)”

It’s clear now but wasn’t in your previous posts. So your official line is that you’ll be voting for the liberal party but not for reasons based purely on the NBN issue. Great. So based on this would it also be safe to assume that other people voting for the liberal party may actually be in favour of the NBN since there are various issues people make these decisions on?

“maybe you need to go back to grade school and learn some comprehension”

You don’t even understand that words (like patchwork) can have different meanings in different contexts so perhaps you are the one that needs to learn a bit of comprehension.

I assume your on a ADSL connection now.
20years ago did you need an ADSL connection?
10years ago did you need an ADSL connectiong faster and 256k?
40years ago did we need an internet connection in every home?

We only have history to tell us what we might need in the future.
We could go with the CLP which base on history we already know is not going to meet future data demands.
Or build something that will meet growth for the next 50+years.

No, and many residences who can get higher speeds are happy with cheap 256K in 2011 , what does that tell you?

“40years ago did we need an internet connection in every home?”

No, does every residence need one in 2011?, many residences don’t have BB at all by choice, or are on all wireless.

“We only have history to tell us what we might need in the future.”

No we don’t, if that was that was the case the highest speed BB HFC would be saturated with a waiting list for ‘free slots’ , it isn’t, and everyone that can get ADSL2+ would be on it, that’s not the case many are happy with 1500/256 or wireless only, what does that tell you?

Pretty silly comparison since we are talking about services and public infrastructure, there is a big difference between that and houses… you dont necessarily have to move btw, you could bulldoze the old house and just build a nice new and improved house on the same property, oh no wait we cant do that because 1. It would cost more and 2. It would employ people. We certainly cant have that now can we.

Congratulations rob you just used every single worn out and debunked argument from The Australian in one post. btw you cant go on because all your last point proves is that you cant be taken seriously in this debate. So why are you on the internet now? Online gambling I assume?

There are 150 electorates in Australia, this Coalition analysis of Bass one small provincial electorate in Tasmania with a population of about 74,000 where the outcome MIGHT have been better if the Coalition had negated the NBN tells us that’s how all of Australia MIGHT have voted?

Don’t make stuff up. Fibre DOES NOT “eventually degrade”. It is made of glass, an extremely stable substance. Copper DOES degrade. One of the justifications for the NBN is that if it isn’t built the copper will have to be replaced, some urgently. Copper, voltage, and moisture do not mix well, and this is the downfall of copper cables as they age. There is no voltage in fibre, it is an insulator after all.

When exposed to air and/or water, what happens to Copper? It goes green as the surface turns to Copper oxide; ie, it rusts.

What happens to class when exposed to air and/or water? Well, nothing. If you’re suggesting fibre optics are so sensitive to UV light, then why aren’t the windows in your house getting more brittle by the day and falling out?

But since you wish to bring up stupid analogies… perhaps you and the Coalition could build a statue of Liberty node for every street to attach the fibre to and … it could also double as a mobile tower, brilliant….!

The Liberals just don’t get it…..the Federal Government’s purpose is to be the Australian nation builder, not the top Australian merchant banker…for 12 years Howard did absolutely no infrastructure building …all he did was pay down debt…big deal..Tony Abbott .is exactly the same as Howard…..TOTALLY SHORT SIGHTED.

“Telstra says that its copper in underground ducts has an expected useful life of around thirty years,”

No it didn’t.

” which means most of it is now due for replacement.”

No it isn’t, keeping in mind the NBN Co expects the copper to have to last 10-20 years it interesting where you are going with that statement – nowhere I guess.

“British Telecom says that its optical fibre (which is laid within a protective poly tube filled with gel) has a life expectancy of at least forty years, but probably more than a century.”

Probably more than a century or probably not? LOL

“Now, what should we be replacing the copper with?”

FTTN and wireless perhaps?

” while the coalition said let’s ask the market to build wireless.”

No they didn’t.

” And they turned an utterly unloseable election into a cliffhanger a few days later.”

The unloseable election was from Labor’s point of view NOT the Coalition, never mind your BS is at least consistent, so taking that point of view Labor nearly lost the election with the NBN and scraped into power courtesy of a few Independents.

“Now they realise it was a mistake”

No they don’t, the seat under analysis by Reith in his report was one seat Bass in Tasmania, the conclusion was they said negating the NBN MIGHT have made a difference

“. What will they offer in 2013?”

They don’t have to offer anything, the NBN is irrelevant in the scale of concerns of what motivates voters in wanting to boot Labor out!

This is your overlord speaking. You will please be more polite towards each other, or I will start bringing out the ban stick. You don’t even have to be on topic — just don’t try and kill each other constantly. RS, I am looking at you here — I’ve banned you before, and I will again, unless you quit your personal attacks. Tosh, you often walk a fine line, but know that I am also scrutinising your posts.

Posting on Delimiter is a privilege, not a right, and I will selectively withdraw it if you break our only rule: No personal attacks.

The good news is that I am shortly to be implementing an improved forum system on Delimiter. This means that you will be able to shout at each other in a much more ‘free’ manner. More on this later.

Oh it\’s time for the inevitable personal attack, a quick change of subject matter to it’s all about ‘MY exchange’, well at least I know what your agenda is, what do you mean ‘congested exchange’, it’s run out of room for more ADSL gear or what?

$36 billion (not 43) for infrastructure that will be in place for 50 to 100 years. I’m afraid you’re wrong in that regard. As for the argument “A better technology will be produced in that time”, that is a catch 22. There will always be a better technology. It isn’t going to just stop.

Selfishness is a marquee part of being a conservative, RS. It really doesn’t surprise me. However the very fact they keep on saying “If an election was held today..” tells me that they’re not confident about what their position will be come 2013.

More self indulgent reporting from the IT industry to prop up the NBN. Fact: the Howard Givernment was heavily defeated in the previous election. They were not even suppose to be able to win the last election, especially with Tony Abbott leading. Fact: the Coalition team out performed beyond everyone’s expectation. Had Labor told the truth on the Carbon (Dioxide) tax, the Colaiton would have won a majority. Now you turn that into the NBN losing it for the Coalition? What self indulgent nonsense.

At the risk of stirring the copper-based cooking pot, Telstra themselves told a Senate Estimates committee:
“I think it is right to suggest that ADSL is an interim technology. It is probably the last sweating, if you like, of the old copper network assets. In copper years, if you like, we are at a sort of transition—we are at five minutes to midnight. ”

Copper degrades – whether you call it rust, corrosion or patina doesn’t matter, the experiences of people with waterlogged pits and corroded joints getting poor voice communications, let alone high frequency data, are too common. Glass may also degrade given enough time – but the real comparison is that glass lasts a whole lot longer than metallic cable.

There is no dispute that glass fibre has a better future than copper cable. It seems to me the dispute is mainly around who pays for it.

“The failure to properly explain the Liberal Party’s broadband policy and the Labor Party’s effective scare campaign was a major cause of the party’s failure to win seats in Tasmania,” the report states.

I’d like to know what this so called “Labor Scare Campaign” is all about. The only advertising I recall regarding the NBN showed positive, but admittedly fluffy ads about the benefits the NBN could deliver. The real awareness of the NBN came from David Bartlett’s excellent involvement in it’s initial roll-out, local media reporting showing maps and photos of it being rolled out, and through word of mouth, which generated real enthusiasm from people that understood how much the NBN can help connect Tasmania’s small isolated communities, that currently suffer from terrible broadband availability. People here seem to get how the NBN can really help our struggling economy.

I know quite a few people, and more importantly businesses, in the greater Hobart area, who still can’t get broadband other than wireless, and are hanging for the NBN to be rolled out in their suburb. I imagine it’s not as much of an issue in other states where people have been enjoying ADSL2 for a long time.

As for people quoting poor up-take rates, firstly the numbers were actually above the expected target, and secondly, to understand why it didn’t take off like wildfire you have to look at the types of places the NBN has been rolled out first, to understand why a lot of residents haven’t signed up (this isn’t taking into account the fact that a lot of people are still on contract with their exiting internet too). Smithton for example is a tiny rural town on the outskirts of North West Tasmania, that is largely driven by fishing, farming and mining (from the mining town Queenstown which is in short driving distance). Not exactly the type of people that are educated about broadband or even care that it exists. Uptake will always be slow in areas like that, that are are hardly indicative of the take-up rates expected when the NBN is available in larger metropolitan areas like Launceston and Hobart.

And please people before posting the usual anti NBN bullshit, I’m not here to argue about the merits of the NBN. I’m simply stating my thoughts on what I know about my home state and the public view of it in Tasmania. The perception of the NBN is much more positive down here than it seems to be in other areas. We even have bi-partisan support for it from both Liberal and Labor leaders. Hence we had a higher vote for Labor during the last federal election than any other state, as the NBN is much more of an issue for Tasmania than other areas.

” which generated real enthusiasm from people that understood how much the NBN can help connect Tasmania’s small isolated communities, that currently suffer from terrible broadband availability. People here seem to get how the NBN can really help our struggling economy.”

Didn’t help the uptake though did it, so how enthusiastic are they?

“I know quite a few people, and more importantly businesses, in the greater Hobart area, who still can’t get broadband other than wireless, and are hanging for the NBN to be rolled out in their suburb. I imagine it’s not as much of an issue in other states where people have been enjoying ADSL2 for a long time.”

I am sure there are communities all over Australia in the same situation, the solution is not JUST a Labor FTTH or nothing though is it?

“As for people quoting poor up-take rates, firstly the numbers were actually above the expected target,”

What target figures? – oh you mean the target figures that came out AFTER the poor uptake figures came in and then they said ‘they were above target’ – brilliant strategy that don’t you think?, that way any poor uptake figure is always going to be ‘above target’ because you wait post rollout uptake to publish them.
Above target is you expected 10 and got 11 as well, of course there is no such term as ‘below target’, it doesn’t exist using that strategy,.

“(this isn’t taking into account the fact that a lot of people are still on contract with their exiting internet too).”

No you cannot take that into account because you have no idea what that figures is and if it is statistically significant anyway, but stuff all of that, mention it anyway, it insinuates that is what the problem was, that’s near enough.

‘” Not exactly the type of people that are educated about broadband or even care that it exists.”

I am sure the residents of those areas in Tasmania are ecstatic about your glib analysis about their intelligence, I remember that Four Corners program on the NBN where they interviewed people from those areas, they seemed articulate enough to me, they knew about it all right,they just didn’t want it, hard to digest I know but there you go.

” Uptake will always be slow in areas like that, that are are hardly indicative of the take-up rates expected when the NBN is available in larger metropolitan areas like Launceston and Hobart.”

So what’s the uptake figures with a signed ISP NBN Plan from Midway Point and inner urban Brunswick in Victoria then?

” I’m simply stating my thoughts on what I know about my home state and the public view of it in Tasmania.”

No it’s not the public view, it’s just your sole opinion of what you think their opinion is.

” The perception of the NBN is much more positive down here than it seems to be in other areas.”

What is the perception of the NBN in ‘other areas’ that is so negative, and how have you measured this so we know what we are comparing with what here?

” We even have bi-partisan support for it from both Liberal and Labor leaders. “Hence we had a higher vote for Labor during the last federal election than any other state, as the NBN is much more of an issue for Tasmania than other areas.”

How do you know it was the NBN that got Labor the higher vote in Tasmania?

That National swing against Labor at the 2010 election was -5.4%, where they lost 16 seats and the Coalition won 14, the swing to Labor in Tasmania was only +1.2%, the Greens in Tasmania had a higher swing than Labor did at +3.3%.

How you interpret that as a + 1.2% endorsement of the Labor NBN is beyond me.

Welcome! We were an energetic and engaged community of Australians who worked with or who were interested in technology -- all sorts of IT professionals, IT managers, CIOs, tech policy-makers and tech enthusiasts.